GKP, Sunda Protestant Reformed Church

The first relations between Switzerland and the Pasundan Church (GKP) date back to the 1970s. At that time, the GKP sent Pastor Suardi to Switzerland for missionary service. He worked mainly in the ecumenical school program "Brennpunkt Welt" and was later replaced by Pastor Habandi, who also came from the Pasundan Church. The GKP is based in the west of the Indonesian island of Java and is the Protestant church of the Sundanese population. It sees itself as a regional church that is open to all Protestant Christians in its region. This is rather an exception in the Protestant church landscape in Indonesia. There is a great desire among Protestants to be able to attend a local tribal church wherever possible in Indonesia. West Java is a distinctly Islamic region. Christians form a small minority here and the GKP only has around 33,000 members in 60 communities. This minority situation in the face of a largely conservative Islam requires careful interaction with the Muslim environment. Peaceful coexistence would not be possible without confidence-building talks. For the theologians of the Pasundan Church, knowledge of Islam, engagement with it and dialog with Muslim clerics is therefore extremely important. 

Through its intensive interfaith cooperation, the GKP reaches young adults and young people from a broad religious spectrum. They make effective use of social media to mobilize and network. For example, young Muslims are quick to respond when a church is threatened with closure, and Christians defend themselves against the ban on an event organized by the Shiite minority. The Pasundan Church (GKP) intends to strengthen its interfaith engagement with the young Muslim population in future through increasing cooperation with the large state Islamic University UIN in Bandung. The interfaith promotion of women, particularly in the area of intimate partner violence, is another focus of the GKP's projects. As Mission 21's first partner church in Indonesia, the GKP has set up a women's shelter for the support and protection of women affected by violence. 

Website of the GKP